The amusing aspect about stereotypes is that in many occasions they have the advantage of being true. For example not all Hispanics have this built-in affections towards soccer but I would venture to say that at least 90% of us do, especially people from Central and South America. My wife is Nuyorican and she finds the sport extremely long and boring yet that’s exactly how I feel about baseball but that’s a sport that she could watch on and on.

I grew up playing soccer and that passion developed even more during the 5 years I lived in El Salvador. You were almost considered an outcast if you didn’t play. In Queens, we didn’t always have a typical soccer field to play in but the lack of it is not something that stopped us from setting up garbage cans as goals and starting up a quick game wherever there was a vacant space. This photograph of kids playing soccer underneath the Unisphere in Flushing Meadow Park prompted me to think back about the exciting matches we had on pure pavement while growing up.